Indiana schools will use teacher performance as predominant factor for layoffs

May 6, 2012

Victor is a communications specialist for EAG and joined in 2009. Previously, he was a newspaper journalist.Archive »

By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

INDIANAPOLIS – Throughout Indiana, student learning will now be a major focus as districts consider teacher layoffs to balance their budgets, thanks to education reforms enacted in 2011.New state laws require school districts to consider a teacher’s abilities in the classroom as the predominant factor in layoff decisions, instead of the union seniority system that has prioritized older teachers over performance for decades.

The new approach will have a significant impact in Indianapolis Public Schools, where the state has taken over four schools due to dismal academic achievement and 80 teachers are slated to be laid off soon. Instead of basing decisions solely on seniority, IPS administrators will use teaching performance, student scores on state standardized tests, and yearly evaluations as the major factors when considering who will be let go, Fox59.com reports.

“Seniority is not going to be the main priority,” district spokeswoman Mary Louise Bewley told the television station. “Ultimately, we’ve really found that folks feel like it’s a fair instrument” for determining which teachers will be laid off, Bewley said.

This year, IPS and several other schools will use the new measurements for layoff decisions, but “schools across the state will negotiate similar layoff systems with unions as contracts expire in coming years,” Fox59.com reports.

The Indiana State Teachers Association, which fought bitterly against the changes, continues to talk down the new system and create unnecessary paranoia about how evaluations and performance factors will influence layoff decisions.

One Response

love it when people want teachers to get paid less, yet they are the ones who basically give children the biggest chance at a happy life by educating them. if u dont like public school, take ur kids out and go to for-profit schools. u will be helping small business, capitalism and the private sector.